My Lady is well

The air was filled with chill, and the entire palace was wrapped in white and thick fog.

The stove in Chengfeng Pavilion was burning with newly-collected charcoal, filling the air with warmth and the sounds of Yingying's laughter.

Lady Wu drew a good card, a smile on her lips and an expression of uncontrollable pride in her eyes.

"It's finally my turn to be the banker in the next hand. Dongfeng."

Lady Meng glanced at her and snorted with disdain.

"Until the game is won, it is still unknown who will win. Dongfeng."

Seeing that the two men were on the verge of a fight, Concubine Zheng knew that this hand would definitely be a big one, so she also opened her cards and followed suit.

"East wind."

Shen Yueyao remained calm, picked up a card, which happened to be Dongfeng, and chuckled.

"I'm grateful to you for your support,

"..."

Lady Wu sighed in annoyance and said, "I've done a good job with this big three."

Lady Meng was too lazy to listen to her complaints and said impatiently.

"Stop talking nonsense and give me money."

Lady Wu pushed the cards away angrily and played them a few times randomly, mumbling something.

"I'm so unlucky today. I lost all my salary for this month again."

Although she said this, she was thinking in her heart that she would be able to turn things around in the next round. After four rounds, she lost a lot of money again. She had no money left, so she could only grit her teeth and continue on with the debt.

The more she lost, the more excited she became, even Concubine Meng was tired of beating her, but Concubine Wu refused to give in.

"No, no, keep going."

Lady Meng laughed and said, "How much do you owe? Are you still paying me back? Do you have any money left?"

Lady Wu's face turned red with anger and she said angrily.

"Who... said I don't have it? Yu'er, go get the exquisite white jade hairpin that the queen gave me."

Zheng Cairen took a breath, looked at Meng Meiren beside him, and blinked at her like a little white rabbit.

Lady Meng twisted a card in her hand and played with it lightly, saying nonchalantly.

"If you dare to gamble with the hairpin awarded by the Queen, I have no objection. I will wear it when I go to the Yong'an Palace to pay my respects tomorrow. How do you think the Queen will feel when she sees the hairpin awarded to you on my head?"

"you!"

Seeing that the atmosphere between the two was tense, Shen Yueyao advised.

"Don't be angry, ladies. It's just a small matter. Why do you need to use the Queen's gift?"

She took out three hundred taels of silver from her sleeve and placed it in front of Lady Wu.

"I still have some silver here. Lady Wu, take it first and settle today's account. We can continue another day. What do you think?"

Lady Wu looked at the banknotes on the table with a conflicted look on her face for a long time. After some ideological struggle, she raised her head and said.

"I won't take your banknotes for nothing. I'll give you the hairpin as a gift. Just don't wear it around the Queen."

Shen Yueyao waved her hands and said, "This is a reward from the Queen, how dare I accept it. If you really feel bad about it, how about giving me two baskets of charcoal?"

When Concubine Wu heard about such a good thing, she felt a little embarrassed and immediately ordered someone to pack 40 kilograms of charcoal and send it to Luhua Pavilion.

Lady Meng didn't like Lady Wu's unwillingness to lose just now, so she sneered at her, turned her head to look at Shen Yueyao, and said in a sarcastic tone.

"Sister Shen, don't pay attention to her. I think the hairpin is pretty good. Why don't you keep it and wear it at the New Year's Eve banquet so that the Queen can see it."

Lady Wu bit her lower lip with her pearly teeth and stared at her.

However, Shen Yueyao's heart suddenly tightened, and she frowned slightly and asked.

"New Year's Eve banquet? I remember that those below the sixth rank of Baolin who are not favored are not qualified to attend the palace banquet."

"It's right to follow the palace rules, but the emperor didn't hold a beauty pageant this year, and there aren't many people in the palace. The queen proposed yesterday that all the concubines in the harem should participate, and my aunt also had this idea, saying that it would be more lively with more people."

After hearing this, Shen Yueyao felt an inexplicable panic in her heart. She had already claimed to be ill once at the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet last time, and she couldn't make up an excuse not to go this time. She felt uneasy for a moment.

Shen Yueyao walked on the snow-covered palace road. The cold wind blew the soft fur on the brim of her cloak, scratching her face randomly. The palace lanterns stretched her slender shadow on the snowy road, making her look a little thin.

The palace servants in front carried the noble lady's sedan chair over. Shen Yueyao stood at the foot of the palace wall and pulled the brim of her hat down to cover most of her face.

As the sedan chair approached, she lowered her head, squatted and bowed deeply. She slowly stood up when the sedan chair went away.

He raised his eyes and took a look at the person on the sedan chair. It turned out to be Concubine Wen Xueshu.

She is now Jing Ruzhang's favorite concubine, right?

The cold emperor and the gentle and virtuous concubine are a perfect match.

And she has completely withdrawn from their world, and all the fights here have nothing to do with her.

She just needed to protect herself from being innocently involved in their fight.

Nowadays, no one would pay attention to her, a little concubine.

Even Song Xueyuan, who had been at odds with her in the past, did not bother to come to Yingxiu Palace to ridicule her.

Shen Yueyao witnessed the lives of the lowest-level concubines in the palace in Yingxiu Palace. They were not good at using tricks to win favor, mainly because under normal circumstances, it was unlikely for them to meet the emperor.

The emperor would only pick a concubine once or twice a year.

Therefore, they would also focus on pleasing concubines of higher positions, but ordinary concubines did not think much of the concubines.

After all, they are at the bottom of the food chain among concubines.

Shen Yueyao felt that the reason why Lady Meng fell in love with her was not only because she was good at playing Mahjong, but also because of the Queen Mother.

After Wan Qiaozhen became a concubine, she would come to Yingxiu Palace every now and then to show off her power. She didn't know when she hooked up with a man named Baolin, whose last name was He.

When Shen Yueyao stepped into Yingxiu Palace, she saw Wan Yu slap Sun Cainv in the face.

Sun Cainü covered her face, glared at her with tears in her eyes.

Wan Yu Nu said in a bossy tone, "Aunt Shang, what is the punishment for insubordination in the palace?"

Aunt Shang looked at it awkwardly: "This..."

"Why? Aunt Shang forgot?"

"I dare not. I shall be caned twenty times."

"Very good, then I'll give you twenty strokes of the cane."

Sun Cainü was also a woman of character, so how could she be treated so badly?

"How dare you! It is clear that only the third-rank imperial concubines and above have the power to punish lower-ranking concubines with a stick. You are just a concubine, and you hit me."

"You were rude first, and you dared to call me a concubine. I will beat you today. So what? Why are you still standing there? Execute me."

Wan Yu's eyes swept across Shen Yueyao at the door. She smiled gently, walked forward neither humbly nor arrogantly, and bowed slightly.

"Ms. Wan Yu, how are you?"

The moment Wan Qiaozhen saw her, he felt a little guilty and his eyes flickered slightly.

On second thought, I am already a royal concubine now, why should I be afraid of her?

She stole the storybook and copied it herself. As for the one written by Shen Yueyao, she had burned it long ago.

Who would believe an accusation without evidence?

She has been harboring resentment towards Shen Yueyao for a long time, so today is a good opportunity to teach her a lesson.